Cortical effects of wrist tendon vibration during an arm tracking task in chronic stroke survivors: An EEG study

The purpose of this study was to characterize changes in cortical activity and connectivity in stroke survivors when vibration is applied to the wrist flexor tendons during a visuomotor tracking task. Data were collected from 10 chronic stroke participants and 10 neurologically-intact controls while tracking a target through a figure-8 pattern in the horizontal plane. Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to measure cortical activity (beta band desynchronization) and connectivity (beta band task-based coherence) with movement kinematics and performance error also being recorded during the task. All participants came into our lab on two separate days and performed three blocks (16 trials each, 48 total trials) of tracking, with the middle block including vibration or sham applied at the wrist flexor tendons. The order of the sessions (Vibe vs. Sham) was counterbalanced across participants to prevent ordering effects. During the Sham session, cortical activity increased as the tracking task progressed (over blocks). This effect was reduced when vibration was applied to controls. In contrast, vibration increased cortical activity during the vibration period in participants with stroke. Cortical connectivity increased during vibration, with larger effect sizes in participants with stroke. Changes in tracking performance, standard deviation of hand speed, were observed in both control and stroke groups. Overall, EEG measures of brain activity and connectivity provided insight into effects of vibration on brain control of a visuomotor task. The increases in cortical activity and connectivity with vibration improved patterns of activity in people with stroke. These findings suggest that reactivation of normal cortical networks via tendon vibration may be useful during physical rehabilitation of stroke patients.